"The Navy wants to take the Chief's Trident away before he retires. All the Chief wants to do is retire on November 30, 2019 with the honors he has earned . That is it."
By now, most of us are familiar with the story of USN Chief Eddie Gallagher. He is one of our nation's war fighters. Any special operator, from any service, are the best of the best. Just to make it to the bottom rung of being a special operator is a journey few can complete. And once you make it to that bottom rung, the training is far from over. Chief Gallagher not only made it to that bottom rung, he made it all the way up to E-7. Not an easy task.
I have supported President Trump's incursion into the military judicial process to intercede for Chief Gallagher. For that support, I have been taken out to the woodshed by some of my social media friends. First, let me give some background on why I feel the way I do.
I was a cryptologist with a high level clearance in the Navy for 21 years. The number of rules we had to live by, were huge and non-ending. To break any of those rules was unforgivable. In other words, to stay working as a cryptologist with a high level clearance, one must follow the rules. Period. So, I do understand the rule issue.
That being said, there is an ocean of difference between what a cryptologist did in the Navy, and what a special operator did. These men were trained to go into harm's way, and take out the worst of the worst bad guys. For the most part, our war fighters are able to walk that fine line between getting the job done, and abiding by the rules war fighters must follow. Almost 100% of the citizens in this country will never know the hell these fine operators face numerous times a year. To me, they are heroes, all of them.
Did Chief Gallagher pose with the corpse of a bad guy? I guess he did, as there is photographic evidence. Did it break a war fighter rule? Probably. Is it worth letting that one minor indiscretion eclipse all the good Chief Gallagher has done in his career? This is where the great divide is. My vote is no. The President's vote is no. The Navy wants to take the Chief's Trident away before he retires in a week. All the Chief wants to do is retire on November 30, 2019 with the honors he has earned . That is it.
I know I am going to get blow back for penning this article. I am ready for it. This morning on Fox, Pete Hegseth was interviewing Chief Gallagher. The Chief had a friend with him, a retired Army Captain who was also an operator. The Captain brought up a very good point. For a young person, who is on the fence about joining the service and trying to make it to operator, is seeing how the Navy is trying to screw over this decorated Chief during his last week before retirement. That sends a very bad message.
Once again, as a retired Navy officer, my vote is to let this decorated operator retire with his rank and with his SEAL designation. If they want to put a letter in his file that posing with the corpse of a dead bad guy is a no-no, I am fine with that. But that should be it. This nation owes all our brave operators a debt of gratitude. It is as simple as that.
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